Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Your clothing should protect you from the hazards you expect, while not weighing you down unnecessarily; it should be adaptable should unexpected situations arise. Layers are key: if possible, wear an outer layer in which to travel to the bloc action, a layer of bloc clothing, and then another layer of getaway clothing beneath this?^without risking heat stroke, of course. In some situations, it may be more sensible to carry the outer layer of your getaway layer in a sealed bag, in case you are covered in paint or tear gas by the time you need to use it. Consult the Health Care recipe (pg. 275) for information on how to handle chemical weapons attacks, if you risk incurring them. I've read that ear plugs can offer some protection against concussion grenades, but how one is supposed to know when to put them in and when to have them out so as to be appropriately attentive is beyond me. If you expect to risk receiving blows or projectile fire, wear body armor of some kind (protective sports gear can suffice) and foam or padding, and a bicycle or motorcycle helmet.

A bloc that intends to defend territory in clashes with the police may decide to use shields. These can be made from trashcan lids or cut traffic barrels, layered (superglued together) and reinforced plexiglass, or inflated rubber rafts heavily reinforced with duct tape and possibly a layer of tarp or good old-fashioned cardboard. Wrap duct tape thickly around the handles so the shock of impact won't break your wrists, and provide plenty of room between the handle and the shield so your knuckles don't take the entire blow. Larger shields are better for protecting against projectile weapons or functioning as a mobile barricade, while smaller ones provide better mobility and serve better in hand-to-hand combat. A line of individual shield-bearers can form a shield wall, especially if they are practiced at moving together; alternatively, massive multi-person shields can be constructed, such as the insulation board placards mentioned below. The latter shields should have enough joints in them to navigate narrower streets; keep in mind that these joints are also their weakest points.

Slapstick as it is, it often happens that comrades who discussed and prepared together will not be able to recognize each other in their bloc gear on the day of the action. You may want to identify yourselves to each other early on, especially people from different cities and affinity groups who intend to work together, so it will be easier to keep up with each other in the chaos.

The moment the bloc forms can be pivotal. Where and when to mask up is a hard question. If you do it too late, once you've joined the bloc, you risk being identified; if you do it too early, before you've joined the bloc, you risk being nabbed by the poHce. Little masked groups walking around before or after events are perfect targets for their enemies. At a big demonstration, one of the best options is to get in your gear in the midst of a large crowd that is not yet under much surveillance, with people around you that you trust, and to move in the body of the crowd to a meeting point with your fellows in the bloc. Wearing layers is important here, too: if you can start in a disposable outermost layer that makes you look like a civilian or liberal activist {if perhaps one overdressed for the weather), masking up v;dll simply mean discarding it and simultaneously pulHng up your mask. At an action in which you have the benefit of surprise, you can always pick a safe, quiet place near your convergence point and mask up there.

In a mass action situation, the convergence of the bloc should never occur before other protesters are out in the streets; once again, the poHce will simply pick off the bloc when no one else is there to provide crowd cover or bear witness. Don't mill around for long at your convergence point?be timely, and get moving. It can happen that the bloc has a difficult time getting out into the field of action, once it has gathered. At a mass action, one of the best solutions for this problem is to have the bloc form somewhere outside the area of heavy police presence, and move into that area as part of a much larger mass?if there's nothing more interesting to do in the other direction, that is! When moving with a mass of others, a bloc should keep close to tibem as well as tight internally; police may try to push in and isolate the bloc.

You can carry umbrellas to make it more difficult for cameras or overhead observers to monitor the activities of your group.

Blocs, Black and Otherwise

h'iPo^-

You can mix styrofoam into

gasoline to make it stick?this

recipe has been used for the filling

of molotov cocktails.